1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic apparatus such as a telephone, a facsimile apparatus, or a portable terminal, and more particularly to the structure of a tilt mechanism in which a tilt portion provided in an electronic apparatus and capable of being tilted can be attached to and detached from the body of the electronic apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an electronic apparatus having a display unit that is realized by a liquid crystal display device or the like is provided with a tilt mechanism capable of supporting in an angularly displaceable manner the display unit on the body of the electronic apparatus to adjust the unit to an angle at which the user can easily see the unit.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 7-30261 (1995) discloses a conventional technique of a tilt mechanism for an electronic apparatus. The tilt mechanism is configured so that a projection formed on a case unit serving as a tilt portion is engaged with one of plural through holes formed in a holding wall which is disposed on an upper cover of a telephone body, and which is made of an elastic material, thereby enabling the tilt angle with respect to the telephone body to be held.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 2000-227763 (2000) discloses another conventional technique of an electronic apparatus. In the electronic apparatus, a display unit serves as a tilt portion, and the tilt angle of the display unit with respect to the apparatus body can be held by angle holding means for maintaining constant a pressing contact force between a sliding rubber member attached to an arcuate or U-shaped part and a sliding face of a printed circuit board constituting a part of a body case unit.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 11-147347 (1999) discloses a further conventional technique of a case cover. The case cover is configured so that the cover body is continuously joined to the inner side of the case, and, when the cover body is opened from the closed state, the posture of the cover body during the opening and closing operations can be held as far as possible by two pair of connecting rods which are interlockingly operated with the opening and closing operations.
In the conventional techniques disclosed in, for example, JP-A 7-30261 and JP-A 2000-227763, many parts which are separated from the tilt portion and the electronic apparatus body are required. In the case where the tilt portion is to be attached to the apparatus body in a step of producing the electronic apparatus, or where the tilt portion is to be detached from the apparatus body in order to perform maintenance on the electronic apparatus, therefore, a large number of parts must be handled, thereby causing the tilt portion to be hardly attached to and detached from the electronic apparatus body.
The case cover of the conventional technique disclosed in JP-A 11-147347 is suitably used in a copier, a facsimile apparatus, or the like to expose the inner side of the apparatus when the case cover is opened. However, the case cover is not configured so that the cover itself is attachable and detachable. Furthermore, the case cover is not configured so as to allow a display unit and an operation panel disposed on a facsimile apparatus or the like to perform a tilting operation, and also to enable the display unit and the operation panel to be attached and detached.
Therefore, it is an object of the invention to provide an electronic apparatus in which, when a detachment preventing member is attached to the electronic apparatus, a tilt portion such as a display unit is set to be angularly displaceable to prevent the tilt portion from being detached from the body of the electronic apparatus, and, when the detachment preventing member is detached from the electronic apparatus, the tilt portion is attachable to and detachable from the electronic apparatus body in a state where the tilt portion is in a predetermined angular position.
The invention provides an electronic apparatus comprising:
an electronic apparatus body;
a tilt portion disposed on the electronic apparatus body to be angularly displaceable about a rotation axis over an angular range including a predetermined angular position, the tilt portion being attachable to and detachable from the electronic apparatus body in a state where the tilt portion is in the predetermined angular position; and
a detachment preventing member detachably attached to the electronic apparatus body, for preventing the tilt portion from being detached from the electronic apparatus body.
According to the invention, the tilt portion is disposed on the electronic apparatus body to be angularly displaceable about the rotation axis over the angular range including the predetermined angular position, and is attachable to and detachable from the electronic apparatus body in the state where the tilt portion is in the predetermined angular position, and the detachment preventing member is detachably attached to the electronic apparatus body, and prevents the tilt portion from being detached from the electronic apparatus body. Since this detachment preventing member is attached to the electronic apparatus body, the tilt portion can be prevented from being detached from the electronic apparatus body, while allowing the tilt portion to be angularly displaceable about the rotation axis over the angular range. In the state where the detachment preventing member is detached from the electronic apparatus body and the tilt portion is in the predetermined angular position, the tilt portion can be attached to and detached from the electronic apparatus body.
In this way, in the state where the detachment preventing member is attached to the electronic apparatus body, the tilt portion can be stably angularly displaceable without being detached from the electronic apparatus body. Even in the state where the detachment preventing member is detached from the electronic apparatus body, the tilt portion cannot be detached from the electronic apparatus body in the angular range except the predetermined angular position. Therefore, the fear that, when the tilt portion is angularly displaced, the tilt portion erroneously drops from the electronic apparatus body to be damaged can be reduced as far as possible.
Furthermore, in the invention it is preferable that at least one of the electronic apparatus body and the detachment preventing member has a positioning piece which positions the tilt portion to the predetermined angular position.
According to the invention, since at least one of the electronic apparatus body and the detachment preventing member has the positioning piece which positions the tilt portion to the predetermined angular position, the tilt portion can be easily positioned to the predetermined angular position so that the tilt portion can be quickly attached to and detached from the electronic apparatus body.
Furthermore, in the invention it is preferable that the detachment preventing member has a resilient engagement piece, and is attached to the electronic apparatus body by resiliently engaging the engagement piece with the electronic apparatus body.
According to the invention, since the detachment preventing member has the resilient engagement piece, and is attached to the electronic apparatus body by resiliently engaging the engagement piece with the electronic apparatus body, the detachment preventing member can be surely attached to the electronic apparatus body by the resilient force of the engagement piece. Moreover, the detachment preventing member can be detached from the electronic apparatus body by applying a force against the resilient force of the engagement piece to cancel the engagement between the engagement piece and the electronic apparatus body.
Furthermore, in the invention it is preferable that engagement piece is disposed on one side of the detachment preventing member, and a first latching piece which is to be latched with the electronic apparatus body and a second latching piece which is to be latched with the tilt portion are disposed on another side of the detachment preventing member.
According to the invention, in the detachment preventing member, the engagement piece is disposed on the one side, and the first latching piece which is to be latched with the electronic apparatus body and the second latching piece which is to be latched with the tilt portion are disposed on the other side. According to the configuration, the detachment preventing member is latched to the tilt portion by the second latching piece, the other side of the detachment preventing member is latched to the electronic apparatus body by the first latching piece, and the one side of the detachment preventing member is engaged with the electronic apparatus body by the engagement piece, whereby the detachment preventing member can be attached to the electronic apparatus body and the tilt portion can be prevented from being detached from the electronic apparatus body.
Furthermore, in the invention it is preferable that, in a state where the second latching piece is latched with the tilt portion, the detachment preventing member is angularly displaceable with respect to the electronic apparatus body and the tilt portion between an attachment position where the first latching piece is latched with the electronic apparatus body, and an attachment/detachment operation position where latch of the first latching piece with the electronic apparatus body is cancelled, and, in a state where the detachment preventing member is in the attachment position, the engagement piece is engaged with the electronic apparatus body.
According to the invention, in the state where the second latching piece is latched with the tilt portion, the detachment preventing member is angularly displaceable with respect to the electronic apparatus body and the tilt portion between the attachment position where the first latching piece is latched with the electronic apparatus body, and the attachment/detachment operation position where latch of the first latching piece with the electronic apparatus body is cancelled, and, in the state where the detachment preventing member is in the attachment position, the engagement piece is engaged with the electronic apparatus body. According to the configuration, the second latching piece of the detachment preventing member is latched with the tilt portion, the detachment preventing member is placed in the attachment/detachment operation position, and the detachment preventing member is angularly displaced to be placed in the attachment position, thereby enabling the detachment preventing member to be easily attached to the electronic apparatus body. The detachment preventing member can be easily detached from the electronic apparatus body by angularly displacing the detachment preventing member attached to the electronic apparatus body from the attachment position to the attachment/detachment operation position.
Furthermore, in the invention it is preferable that an angular displacement shaft in which an outer diameter is varied with respect to a circumferential direction is formed on one of the electronic apparatus body and the tilt portion, and
a shaft bearing portion is formed on another one of the electronic apparatus body and the tilt portion, the angular displacement shaft being fitted into the shaft bearing portion to be angularly displaceable about the rotation axis, the shaft bearing portion having a cutaway groove of a width which is larger than a minimum outer diameter of the angular displacement shaft and smaller than a maximum outer diameter of the angular displacement shaft, the cutaway groove facing the angular displacement shaft in a direction perpendicular to a direction of the minimum outer diameter in the state where the tilt portion is in the predetermined angular position.
According to the invention, the angular displacement shaft is formed on one of the electronic apparatus body and the tilt portion, the shaft bearing portion is formed on the other one of the electronic apparatus body and the tilt portion, and the angular displacement shaft is fitted into the shaft bearing portion to be angularly displaceable about the rotation axis. Therefore, the tilt portion can be angularly displaced with respect to the electronic apparatus body. The angular displacement shaft is formed so that the outer diameter is varied with respect to the circumferential direction. The shaft bearing portion has the cutaway groove of the width which is larger than the minimum outer diameter of the angular displacement shaft and smaller than the maximum outer diameter of the angular displacement shaft, and is formed so that, in the state where the tilt portion is in the predetermined angular position, the cutaway groove faces the angular displacement shaft in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the minimum outer diameter. In the state where the tilt portion is in the predetermined angular position, therefore, the angular displacement shaft can be fitted into and detached from the shaft bearing portion via the cutaway groove, and, in the state where the tilt portion is not in the predetermined angular position, the angular displacement shaft which is fitted into the shaft bearing portion cannot be detached from the shaft bearing portion. According to the configuration, in the state where the tilt portion is in the predetermined angular position, the tilt portion can be made attachable to and detachable from the electronic apparatus body, and, in the state where the tilt portion is not in the predetermined angular position, the tilt portion cannot be detached from the electronic apparatus body.
Furthermore, in the invention it is preferable that the angular displacement shaft has a cylindrical outer peripheral face having a maximum outer diameter over a predetermined angular range in the circumferential direction, and
in the shaft bearing portion, a substantially cylindrical inner peripheral face except the cutaway groove is formed to have an inner diameter which is slightly larger than the maximum outer diameter of the angular displacement shaft.
According to the invention, the angular displacement shaft has the cylindrical outer peripheral face which has the maximum outer diameter over the predetermined angular range in the circumferential direction, and the shaft bearing portion is formed so the substantially cylindrical inner peripheral face except the cutaway groove has the inner diameter which is slightly larger than the maximum outer diameter of the angular displacement shaft. According to the configuration, in a state where the angular displacement shaft is fitted into the shaft bearing portion, the angular displacement shaft can be smoothly angularly displaced about the rotation axis while being supported by the shaft bearing portion. Since the shaft bearing portion can be smoothly angularly displaced about the rotation axis in this way, the tilt portion can be smoothly angularly displaced about the rotation axis.
Furthermore, in the invention it is preferable that the tilt portion is a display unit for displaying predetermined information.
According to the invention, since the tilt portion is a display unit for displaying predetermined information, the operator of the electronic apparatus can angularly displace the display unit to an angle at which information displayed on the display unit can be easily seen. In a process of producing the electronic apparatus, moreover, the work of attaching the display unit to the electronic apparatus body can be conducted easily and quickly, so that the efficiency of production of the electronic apparatus can be improved. In maintenance of the electronic apparatus, the works of attaching and detaching the display unit to and from the electronic apparatus body can be facilitated, so that maintenance can be conducted easily and quickly.